It's important to remember that chiropractic is not only about pain! Every day, our brain is relying on feedback from motion of the joints throughout our body. Chiropractic adjustments help keep these important joints moving properly so our brain gets good feedback from all the movement our body is doing throughout the day. This helps to “set the stage” for better health overall.

Things that can cause problems to our movement patterns (and in turn, our health) are different types of stresses in our lives: physical stress (like sitting at a desk all day or looking down at your cell phone for long periods of time), emotional stress and chemical stress (like poor food choices). A lot of our patients use regular chiropractic care to help give their body a “reset” to counteract all of these stresses their body gets from day to day.

Check out more our article featured in the "Why Small Businesses Matter" section of HamletHub: Why Small Businesses Matter: Stamford Balance Chiropractic Studio

Is it time to start taking care of your spine? Call our office to set up an initial consultation and visit with Dr. Cristina by calling us at 203-355-2830.

It creates an un-level foundation.
When you are sitting in a chair, you should always focus to have even pressure exerted on your ischial tuberosities (these are the bony bump you have on each side of your buttocks. In yoga class, you may hear these referred to your “sit bones”). When sitting with your legs angled to one side, it creates an un-level foundation for the pelvis, causing and uneven shift of weight to one side of the body. This uneven shift of weight causes the body to try to compensate for these imbalances, which can cause biomechanical problems down the road.

It causes rotation in the lower thoracic spine.
To create the illusion of longer legs, these women angle their legs to the side and downward, causing them to have to rotate their trunk upright to create the illusion of proper upright posture and squaring of their shoulders. Because the lumbar spine (those are your 5 lower spinal segments) does not allow for much rotational movement, the majority of this rotational force will get distributed to your lower thoracic spine, and can cause pre-mature wear and tear in this area. Our psoas muscles (or hip flexors) also attach here, and any disruption in the motion segments can lead to an imbalance in tone in the very important muscles, along with our other postural and support muscles connected to the spine in this area.

It's back to school time, which means it's once again backpack time for many kids returning to school and college. Incorrect use of a proper backpack can be just as damaging as using the wrong backpack. Repetitive heavy loading, along with poor ergonomics can lead to dysfunction in your child's body and spine. This dysfunction can lead to back pain, headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain and even things like digestive problems and overall exhaustion.

Do you have stress on your spine?

Keeping your spine healthy this year may be one of your most important resolutions for 2017. Your spine houses your body’s most important organ - your nervous system, which controls EVERYTHING your body does on a daily basis! When there is stress on your spine and nervous system, your body can’t function at 100%, which can eventually lead to pain, dysfunction and disease. Our bodies are pretty amazing, and when we reduce stress to the spine and nervous system, we can feel better and function optimally!

1. Get Up During the Day - Our bodies are not designed to sit all day, but unfortunately that’s what most of our jobs entail. Sitting for 7 hours a day has not only been linked to an increase in pain, but also heart disease, weight gain, diabetes, brain fog, osteopenia and even certain cancers. You should try to get up from your chair for at least 10 minutes every hour - this could mean standing up when you get a phone call, making extra trips to the copier or walking over to speak with a co-worker instead of e-mailing. There are some really cool smart phone apps like Stand Up! – These will bing or buzz your phone once an hour to remind you to get up and get moving!

2. Use Proper Ergonomics - You should always be mindful of your workstation ergonomics, your workout form at the gym, or even how you’re holding your body when doing things around the house. Over time, these incorrect postures can lead to uneven wear and tear on our joints, a lack of energy and even brain fog. Proper workstation ergonomics can be found here and, if you’re getting back to the gym, you may want to consider working with a professional trainer who can show you how to use proper form!

3. Add Movement To Your Life - Movement is the key to function. When there is a lack of motion (or improper motion) in our spinal joints, muscles and ligaments, they cannot function at their best and eventually set your body up for problems. To prevent injuries and keep all of the supportive structures of your body healthy and balanced, you should add exercises and stretches that target all 3 planes of movement (front to back, side to side and rotation) - there are some great examples here.

4. Sleep in the Proper Position - Many of the problems I see on a daily basis in my practice are actually the results of improper sleeping positions. It only takes 10-15 minutes for our ligaments to relax enough to cause stress on our spine, so sleeping in the wrong position throughout the entire night can be a common cause of pain and dysfunction in our bodies. You should never sleep on your stomach - this position not only causes pressure on the structures in your lower back, but also forces us to turn our head completely to 1 side, which can cause stress at the base of your neck and upper back. Try sleeping on your back with a pillow under your knees, or on your side with your neck properly supported and a pillow between your knees to prevent your body from rotating or twisting during the night.

When the TMJ (Temporomandibular joint) is misaligned, it is called TMJ Syndrome. Common symptoms include the inability to open the mouth wide and a clicking or popping sound when the mouth opens or closes. In some cases, the jaw can even temporarily lock. Other TMJ symptoms can include headache; hearing loss; tinnitus (ringing in the ears); throat fullness; facial swelling; shoulder, cheek or jaw pain; neck ache; facial nerve pain; ear or eye pain; dental pain; nausea; blurred vision and even dizziness.

Because structural and TMJ problems are often found together, many TMJ sufferers benefit from chiropractic care. Careful analysis is used to determine exactly where the problem is coming from (ex. cervical spine, cranial bones, shoulder, TMJ itself, etc.) and gentle chiropractic adjustments are used to correct any imbalances, which helps to relieve pain.

At Stamford Balance Chiropractic Studio, Dr. Cristina uses the Activator Method Technique to analyze and adjust the TMJ. According to a recent retrospective case series researching the Activator Method and TMJ, patients had on average an improvement of 80.9% ± 15.4% in reduction of symptoms. (1)

Now NEW patients can schedule an initial appointment with us online because of our new partnership with Zocdoc.com! Now you'll be able to access our schedule online, fill out their demographic and insurance information and book an appointment right from your computer without even having to pick up the phone!